Disclaimer: If I owned these characters I would definitely not be writing them here.

Context: Starts right after ep. 2 of the 2nd Season

Leslie Shay was currently occupied with the transfer of her clothes from the washing machine to the dryer. Her movements were mechanical and automatic, as her mind was still processing the extensive talk she'd just have with her new partner Rafferty after they shared a hug.

The blonde paramedic had been wondering about Rafferty's attitude for a couple days now, when it came to her sexual orientation, because it seemed like a particularly weird one.

I mean, who turns homophobic just by sharing an ambulance with a gay partner? Why so late in the game? Generally this kind of attitude comes from upbringing and so on. So, there were two plausible options: Or Rafferty had been always homophobic and it aggravated when she shared her job with that gay paramedic, or something else happened during their job together.

But as it turns out, it was mostly because of bad timing. Rafferty told Shay that she had left her resident position at the hospital after her fiancée got diagnosed with Hodgkin's and when he died she had to get a job and ended up as a paramedic with that gay woman right after. At first it wasn't the homosexual part of the 'intimate and overly graphic conversations on the phone' that touched her nerves, but the 'intimate' part. Rafferty had just lost her fiancée, and instead of being able to focus on her job and trying to get over it her own way, she had put up with someone at duty hours portraying excessively public displays of affection on the phone. For six bloody months. Instead of being able to deal with it, Rafferty admitted, she just turned all her sadness into anger, and projected it towards any gay person she came across with.

And, as a bitter icing on the cake, when she discovered after being accepted to Ambulance 61, that she'd have another gay partner, she just lost it and took the homophobic comments as routine and as if nothing was wrong with it. Obviously, after Shay being so sensitive and supportive just now at the laundry room, Rafferty felt she owned an explanation and a change of attitude. She still couldn't put up with some stuff, but when it came to Shay at least, she'd try to filter her nastiness.

After such a heartfelt conversation (even though Rafferty kept a safe distance between her and Shay during the whole exchange, absently scrapping a loose plastic from the drier machine) Shay's opinion of her partner changed even more. It already did significantly shift after she discovered about her fiancée's death, but now…she saw directly her softer and vulnerable side and Shay was starting to feel it'd be extremely dangerous to work with Rafferty, because when they were just teasing each other it was all fun and games. She knew that, at some point, she was attracted to her, but obviously decided she'd never do anything about it because of her attitude. However, now they were slowly getting closer, it seemed to be a very risky territory to be in.

Never fall for a straight, vulnerable woman who happens to be your co-worker...EVER! – Shay thought, shaking her head and then proceeding to close the dryer's door with a loud *pang*.

You don't like her. You sympathize with her. You tease her, she teases back. It's all just typical, platonic, fun, co-worker banter.

Needless to say, despite saying these things to herself, Shay was, against her better judgment, starting to fall for Allison Rafferty.

Feel free to leave constructive criticism :]

I just had these thoughts on my mind and I had to get them off. I intend on keep following this and turn it into a multi-chapter.